It's Genetic
by Mizzy
Summary: An alternate end for "The Legend of Sleepy Halliwell." What it Phoebe asked Chris "The Question" in front of Piper and Paige?


**It's Genetic**  
  
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Summary: An alternate end for "The Legend of Sleepy Halliwell." What it Phoebe asked Chris "The Question" in front of Piper and Paige?  
  
Disclaimer: Charmed doesn't belong to me. Wah.  
  
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"Hey, wasn't Ziggy Marley supposed to play here before?" Paige leant on the bar casually, bopping to the infectious music.  
  
Pausing from her clapping, Piper turned to her half-sister. "We had to reschedule. So, how's Zachary doing?"   
  
"He's doing all right, back home with his family. Although, I wouldn't be surprised to see him back at Magic School some day. I think he heard us, about accepting who he is." A small content smile crossed Paige's face, and Phoebe inwardly smiled, knowing Paige would wear that same content smile when she finally found her path.  
  
Worried about Zachary's potential for evil, Piper frowned. "So you're not going to bind his powers then?"   
  
Paige shook her head before explaining. "No, he didn't want me to. Although, he helped me realize that it might be a good option for somebody else."   
  
"Richard?" Phoebe asked, a mischievous smirk crossing her heart-shaped face.  
  
Paige nodded. "He can't handle it, so why should he have to, right? Maybe I can help him to accept that. Maybe I can finally help him, too."   
  
Phoebe decided to launch her first bombshell on her sisters, choosing the least... controversial truth. "You're gonna be a great teacher one day, Paige."   
  
Paige smiled, happy at the compliment, until what Phoebe had actually said hit her. "Teacher?"   
  
"Yep," Phoebe said with a grin. "At Magic School. Just one of the many little tidbits I saw on my vision quest."   
  
Piper folded her hands on the bar. "Yeah, well she won't be teaching Wyatt there, that's for sure. I'm suddenly a lot more concerned about tearing him away from his family than raising him as an only child."   
  
Phoebe resisted the full-blown grin that had been threatening ever since she'd accepted the truth, what had to be the truth. "You might not have to worry about that someday, either."   
  
Piper's eyes went round. "What? What are you saying?"   
  
"I'm saying…" Phoebe began, before spotting Chris coming down the stairs and heading for the back room, and stopping. "Hey! Chris! Over here!"  
  
Piper and Paige looked at Phoebe as if she'd gone crazy.  
  
"What do you want him here for?" Piper asked, incredulous.   
  
"Hey…" Chris said uncomfortably, watching Piper blush as she realised he'd heard her. "You wanted me to come over to kick me out?"   
  
"No, I wanted you over to ask you a question."   
  
"What?"   
  
"I need you to be honest with me, Chris," Phoebe said, trying to keep her voice level, ignoring the mistrustful looks from her sisters towards the half-whitelighter who seemed to have such a hidden agenda. "No running away, no games, just the truth, okay?"   
  
Desperately needing their trust, Chris agreed. "Okay…"   
  
Phoebe paused, inhaling slowly, before launching the stinger. "Are you Wyatt's little brother?"  
  
Chris' eyes flew to hers. "How the hell did-" Then he stopped, looking furious with himself. "Damn. You haven't a clue what you've done, have you? Gees." Pushing himself away with his hands from the bar, Chris started to storm away, anger on his face. He didn't get very far as Paige, the nearest, snapped out her arm and stopped him from moving. Chris, trapped, swivelled on his heel.  
  
"No running away, Chris," Phoebe hissed, her eyes dark and narrowed.  
  
Chris exhaled hard. "No games? Just the truth?" He mimicked her words lightly. "What on earth does it matter if I am? It's not likely to happen in this timeline, anyway, not with them apart like they are-"  
  
"Which was all your fault in the first place!" Paige spluttered, finally finding her voice.  
  
"Yeah, just stopping the bastard from getting himself killed," Chris retorted. "If he'd gone on with the path he was on, I would have been conceived - yes - but he would have died. Making him an Elder was the only damn way to keep him alive. If I'm the cost, so be it."   
  
He shrugged, lost, and bowed his head.   
  
"Even if he wasn't around that much, he- he's still my father," he said softly, admitting the truth in his abritrary and roundabout way. He lifted his head slowly, tentatively, meeting Piper's gaze as he did so. Their gaze locked, Chris' anguish and love with Piper's look of betrayal and a burgeoning acceptance.  
  
"But if you're still here-" Piper's voice cracked. "Then you're still a possibility." Unsure of herself, but now seeing Leo in Chris' eyes and the arrogant tilt of his chin, seeing a Halliwell defiance looking back at her, Piper stepped forwards falteringly. The music continued, a hazy wash of syncopated beats and smily lyrics.  
  
"I- I guess," Chris said, wonder in his voice, as if this was the first time he'd thought of it. He looked away, then looked at Piper with the wonder on his face matching the wonder in his voice. "I- It's been hard, not telling you the truth, but I- I didn't know how to tell you."  
  
"Hi, I'm Chris Halliwell, would have been a great start," Paige dead-panned.  
  
Chris smiled ruefully at her. "Hi, Piper, I came from the future to stop my older brother from destroying the world," he retorted, mimicking her tone. "Oh, yeah, my older brother is Wyatt." A quirk flashed across his face. "Y'know, I could have lied."  
  
"Oh?" Phoebe said, doubt flashing across her face for a second.  
  
"No, no, no. I'm not lying! I meant, I could have lied to answer your question with my answer still being the truth," Chris said quickly, holding up his hands, a mischievous glint showing in his eyes which they would soon learn to know was a sign he was about to give them an example of his quirky sense of humour. "I'm not Wyatt's little brother."  
  
"Huh?" Piper, confused, stepped back.  
  
"He's my little brother," Chris grinned. "At the moment," he added. "Size wise."  
  
"Y'know, we should have seen this before," Paige commented laconicly, grinning a little at Chris, proud to be an aunt again.  
  
"How so?" Phoebe demanded.  
  
"He has Piper's dodgy sense of humour," she replied lightly, ducking a second later to avoid Piper's outstretched hand sailing through the air.  
  
"It's genetic," Chris explained, smiling at his mother.   
  
Piper just smiled back. "Sure is," she agreed. "A genuine Halliwell trait."  
  
"I'm so glad I'm not a Halliwell," Paige said. "Us Matthews have a great sense of humour."  
  
Chris snorted. "That's not what the kids at school say," he commented, before freezing. Paige looked at him, her eyes wide.  
  
"You're one of my students?"  
  
".... can I lie now you've asked that one question?" Chris questioned Phoebe briefly.  
  
Phoebe, laughing, nodded.  
  
"No one says your jokes aren't funny at school. Especially me," Chris volunteered.  
  
Paige grinned in satisfaction, until she noticed Phoebe and Piper's shoulders shaking. Her eyes narrowed.  
  
"Ve-ry funny, Chris," she said, folding her arms as Piper and Phoebe laughed louder, leaning on each other for support.  
  
"So it goes from dodgy sense of humour to funny?" Chris questioned briefly.  
  
"Are you cruising for a smackdown, oh impertinent nephew of mine?" Paige retorted.  
  
Chris held up his hands. "No. Just... I- I'm impertinent because I'm kinda glad."  
  
"What do you mean?" Phoebe asked, sobering up slightly.  
  
"That you haven't taken this badly," Chris said simply. "Trying to save Wyatt from turning evil has been tough, and I was so worried that if you found out the truth, you'd hate me."  
  
"You could have just tried us with the truth," Piper said, moving forwards, one hand tentatively on his arm. "You should know us well enough by now to realise that - even though the truth can be surprising at times, after the initial shock, we're willing to try and accept anything." She wrinkled her nose. "Even the truth that we're the predestined Charmed ones."  
  
"Yeah, that's got to be weird. I grew up around danger, you all landed in it," Chris mused.  
  
"At least we had a period in our lives where we were safe," Piper said softly, taking in Chris again, feeling a small rush of wonder thrill inside of her. "You- you've been in danger all your life."  
  
"Not your fault," Chris mumbled, looking at Piper with such love that her heart soared. Beaming happily, Piper almost missed the mischievous smirk on Phoebe's face. Almost.  
  
"Pheebs, what's with the smirking?" Piper questioned, lying her head on Chris' shoulder instinctively, deciding she liked it. Judging by Chris' expression, he didn't mind at all.  
  
"You'll see," Phoebe declared happily, looking at the looks of contentment on her sisters and nephew's faces. The tranquility of the possible future she saw matched that look and magnified it a thousand fold. Piper looked at her quizzically, and Phoebe decided that some things should still be secret. What would the fun be in knowing exactly what was going to happen in the future? She smiled, brilliantly. "You'll see." 


End file.
